# The given name "Cotton". **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 11, 2008, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-given-name-cotton/440923 "2008-03-11T02:56:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2008, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-given-name-cotton/440923/21 "2008-03-11T16:12:33Z")
Ultimately, the name comes from Old English _cot_, “cottage.” The surname is from the old dative plural _cotum_, roughly meaning “[he who comes from / dwells at the] cottages.” What? That’s what the OP asked, isn’t it? - ducks excessively literal-minded head and runs away \* ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2008, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-given-name-cotton/440923/22 "2008-03-11T16:42:17Z")
And there was Cotton Gin, which was a commercial failure because no one wanted fluffy martinis. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2008, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-given-name-cotton/440923/23 "2008-03-11T18:05:59Z")
[QUOTE=Dr. Drake] Ultimately, the name comes from Old English _cot_, “cottage.” The surname is from the old dative plural _cotum_, roughly meaning “[he who comes from / dwells at the] cottages.” What? That’s what the OP asked, isn’t it? - ducks excessively literal-minded head and runs away \* [/QUOTE] Yep! Thanks. But the rest is fun, too. I’m off to my cottage (shotgun shack). ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2008, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-given-name-cotton/440923/24 "2008-03-11T18:08:27Z")
[QUOTE=DrFidelius] And there was Cotton Gin, which was a commercial failure because no one wanted fluffy martinis. [/QUOTE] We really, really need a “shakehead” smily. It would fit nicely between 😕 and :rolleyes: . mangeorge ---
**Author:** ![Sophistry\_and\_Illusion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Sophistry\_and\_Illusion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sophistry_and_Illusion)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2008, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-given-name-cotton/440923/25 "2008-03-11T18:08:46Z")
My wife’s step-dad goes by Cotton, although it is not his given name. Again, it’s because he had very pale, almost white hair as a child. ---
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2008, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-given-name-cotton/440923/26 "2008-03-11T21:24:14Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] Cotton Mather’s father was **Increase Mather**. Styles in names have definitely changed. [/QUOTE] Isn’t it a reference to the Hebrew phrase “He will increase,” which is apparently the meaning ascribed to the name “Joseph”? (Of course, it makes you wonder why Increase Mather’s father didn’t simply name him Joseph. Maybe he didn’t like “Joe.”) ---
**Author:** ![11811](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/9d8465/32.png) [@11811](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/11811)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2008, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-given-name-cotton/440923/27 "2008-03-11T21:45:59Z")
John Cotton was the hero of Bless the Beasts and Children. All the main characters go by their last names in the story. ---
**Author:** ![ratatoskK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ratatoskk/32/2987_2.png) [@ratatoskK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratatoskK)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2008, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-given-name-cotton/440923/28 "2008-03-11T22:14:35Z")
Here is where I get to tell everyone that I personally know a relative of Cotton Mather. (Only in New England!) ---
**Author:** ![Apollyon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/apollyon/32/4238_2.png) [@Apollyon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollyon)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2008, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-given-name-cotton/440923/29 "2008-03-11T22:52:57Z")
[QUOTE=Sal Ammoniac] Isn’t it a reference to the Hebrew phrase “He will increase,” which is apparently the meaning ascribed to the name “Joseph”? (Of course, it makes you wonder why Increase Mather’s father didn’t simply name him Joseph. Maybe he didn’t like “Joe.”) [/QUOTE] [Wiki claims:](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Increase_Mather) The stated reason for his first name was “…the never-to-be-forgotten increase, of every sort, wherewith God favoured the country about the time of his nativity.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-given-name-cotton/440923.md?page=1)